This tournament as finished as Pontiac

What does the Michelob Ultra Open runner-up get? A sizable check, sure, but anything else?

A pewter spittoon? A chocolate musket? Pocahontas' autograph? Six months' supply of the sponsor's product?

The singles runners-up at Wimbledon, for example, receive silver plates in addition to a bunch of money. Do the beer barons provide, as the game-show hosts say, any lovely parting gifts?

A Friday afternoon inquiry revealed that the second-place finisher at the local LPGA hoedown must make do with $200,915. No trinkets or doo-dads. Just cash.

We wondered because of Lorena Ochoa.

The world No. 1 heads into the weekend with a three-shot lead after a two-day cruise around Kingsmill's River Course.

Sporting blasphemy that it might be, this puppy feels as finished as Pontiac.

No disrespect to the game, the field, the course or whatever Mother Nature chooses to throw our direction in the next two days.

This is more about props to Ochoa than criticism directed elsewhere. She simply has that look.

She won the last time out, two weekends ago in Mexico. Her track record says that she goes low and wins in bunches.

Each of the past three years she put together winning streaks of at least three tournaments. Early in 2008, she won four in a row, five of her first six events and six of her first nine.

Typical of golfers, particularly the best golfers, Ochoa tries not to think about hot streaks and multiple victories.

"It's never good to think that way," she said. "You always need to be ready, and you always need to be humble, and tomorrow will be a new day, a new start. I'm going to play like I'm behind (by) two or three shots. I never like to think I'm winning. So that's what I'm going to do (Saturday) and hopefully, I'll have another good round."

Ochoa has been more than competitive at Kingsmill. She has three runner-up finishes in six prior appearances here, and she has logged a dozen rounds in the 60s.

She enters the weekend with the tournament's 36-hole record of 13-under 129, one shot better than Annika Sorenstam's mark last year when she dusted the field on the way to the final victory of her Hall of Fame career.

If Ochoa's competitors are thinking about duct-taping her to the locker-room wall, or handcuffing her to the Griffon over at Busch Gardens, they aren't letting on.

"It's never over," said Lindsey Wright, five shots back after Friday's 2-under 69. "Lorena, obviously, is the one to beat. She's at the top of the leaderboard. She's won, she's experienced, and all those awesome things that come with being No. 1 in the world.

"But there's so many good players out here now who have the ability to shoot 8-under (Saturday) or Sunday or both rounds. So absolutely, it's not over 'til it's over."

Problem is, Ochoa is one of those golfers capable of shooting weekend 63s and running away from the field.

"I've been in that situation in this place," Ochoa said, "and I think the courses (where) you play good or you win tournaments is because they suit your game and you feel comfortable on them. So the more you repeat that, the level of comfort is better and better, and it's like making one or two birdies — you seem to make the next.

"It's a crazy game and sometimes it's hard to understand, but I do like to be here and I would love to get my first win."

In fact, Kerr, the 2005 champ, might end up as Ochoa's primary challenger. She tied the course record with a 63 Friday and lurks among the group three shots back. She is well aware of Ochoa's chops, but concedes nothing.

"Nobody has a perfect golf game," Kerr said. "Come Sunday, if you stay right there with her, anything can happen. It's not a given that she's going to win. You've just got to deal with her pressure … whoever the leader is. Whether it's her or somebody else."

It will be Ochoa, and good luck wrestling the big crystal doorstop from her. But no worries. Two-hundred large is a dandy consolation prize.

Ochoa's record-breaking first 36 holes A hole-by-hole look at Ochoa's record-breaking first two rounds at Kingsmill:Hole123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTPar435434544364443454343571Rd 1334424444324432455233264Rd 2325425535344442344333165Key: circle for birdie, square for bogey

Dave Fairbank can be reached at 247-4637 or by e-mail at dfairbank@dailypress.com. For more from Fairbank, read his blog at dailypress.com/fromthetarpit.